PROTESTERS have urged Wokingham Borough Council to revise its active travel support — and said if nothing is done, the council will fail to meet nationwide targets.
On Tuesday evening, the planning committee met to consider proposals for thousands of new homes, as well as a new distributor road, in South Wokingham.
Prior to the meeting, Wokingham Active Travel Community Hub (WATCH) volunteers staged a protest and called for the plans to be revised to include greater provisions for sustainable travel.
WATCH is a community group campaigning for more environmentally-friendly transport across the borough.
‘Not enough support for sustainable travel’
On Tuesday evening, the council’s planning committee voted in favour of plans for the South Wokingham Distributor Road (SWDR), which include combined cycleways and pedestrian pathways.
It also voted for the Western Gateway, which will see a new roundabout installed at the end of Molly Millars Lane with a cycle path around one of its three sides.
But Adrian Betteridge, from WATCH, said the proposals are incompatible with active travel and said if the council persists with the South Wokingham major development as planned, it will fail to meet the Government’s active travel targets by 2030.
Revealed in July 2020, the Government wants to see 50% of short journeys made on foot or by bike within the next 10 years.
‘We need to get it right’
Roughly 10 protesters gathered outside Wokingham Borough Council’s offices on Shute End to protest the two planning proposals.
Joining them was Nick Reed, a Wokingham resident and keen cyclist who said segregated lanes are his number one priority to feel safe.
“There’s such poor infrastructure here,” he said. “There is a lot that has been done elsewhere that we could implement here.
“Segregation would help a child to feel safe on their bike.”
This could mean bollards between cycle routes and roads, instead of a white painted line.
Fellow protester Natalie Wilson, who pedals with her seven-month old daughter, also raised concerns about safety on the new road.
“I wouldn’t feel safe with [my daughter] on the back,” she said, “but in the front where I can see her feels more stable.”
Cllr Rachel Burgess, newly appointed leader of the Wokingham Labour group, was also present and said there are “no excuses” for not including better cycling provision in the development plan.
“We need to be demanding better for our communities,” she said. “We need to get it right now.”
She said it would be more efficient to redesign the plans to improve them for cyclists at this stage, as opposed to making amendments later down the line.
Cllr Burgess also said it is important for the council’s climate emergency response to encourage more borough residents to cycle frequently.
“We’ve declared a climate emergency — we need to act now, that’s why it’s called an emergency.”
‘We have an opportunity here’
At Tuesday’s meeting, the planning committee also approved plans to build roughly 1,600 new homes in South Wokingham.
Mr Betteridge said the council now has “an opportunity” to make a difference when it comes to sustainable travel.
He told Wokingham.Today: “We need to bite the bullet and stop trying to make it easier to drive — we need to make it easier for people to walk and cycle.
“All these houses are within easy walking and cycling distance from Wokingham town centre. We need to make that safe and attractive for people.”
WATCH predicts that roughly 10,000 trips could be made along the SWDR every day once the development is finished.
It said a shift towards walking and cycling is a core requirement of the borough council’s climate emergency plan.
Now, WATCH is calling on the council to put the South Wokingham major development programme on hold and redesign the SWDR and Western Gateway to include segregated cycle and pedestrian pathways.
“The money seems to be there but it’s being committed to cars, so we want a proper vision for sustainable travel and to see more resources allocated to it,” Mr Betteridge said.
